Don’t worry, it’s not wine although she likes to pretend it is!

For several years now, we buy sparkling apple or grape juice for Emily for Christmas so she gets to drink in a fancy wine glass with us and she gets to celebrate!

She loves it!

I’ve been on vacations since Dec.20th and this morning (Jan.4th) is the first day I had to get up as Emily had tutoring.

Monday will be back to work for me and Tuesday will be back to school for Em.

I enjoyed my 2 weeks with her. My mom visited for the first week which means she was here for Christmas.

We spent the first 3 days of her visit cleaning my house. Not that we are extremely messy but in the last month Jon made us a new kitchen counter which he sanded… In the kitchen!

I adore my husband but that red dust was everywhere…

So my “lets clean up quickly” turned into “let’s empty everything, clean, decide if we are keeping that stuff than put it back…”

This is what we ended up donating by the end of cleaning day #3

That made me happy as we just own to much stuff. This will all go to people who need if rather than just want it.

Once the kitchen was cleaned we went into cooking mode… à la québécoise! I am French Canadian after all which means that my traditions are different. I am also a unique individual which means that I would be different anyway… I’ve never been a fan of all being the same, doing things because others are doing it. My husband’s traditions are different from mine so we are a blended family with our own traditions.

I LOVE IT!

First, regardless of how many people might come by, we need a full bar.

Gifts are under the tree as soon as they are wrapped. It’s a form of parental abuse I’m sure but we all enjoy it!

Making cookies for Santa on our new counter.

Poupounes!

Meat pies.

Cipailles!

My fridge was so full of food. It all tasted like home. It was fabulous.

If everything goes well, we should be done eating all of it by end of day tomorrow!

🙂

After all, there’s only the 3 of us.

Mom left on the 27th.

Overall, we had a great Christmas with just enough gifts. We didn’t over do it. I got to spend time with my mom and my family. We ate too much and we’ve been watching hockey almost daily.

World Junior Championship! It’s a holiday tradition. It’s funny how we even make sure not to call each other during a Canada game. I was chatting with my nephew the other day and we both said we had to go as the game was about to start. :).

We lost power on December 23rd but were lucky to be reconnected within 9 hours… For others, it lasted over a week… We went from no snow to not knowing where to put it within a week or so. Crazy weather but in the end it doesn’t matter. We were together, staying warm and enjoying family time.

New Year’s Eve was spent in pajamas. Jon got us McDonalds at 11:30pm and we watched the countdown on tv direct from NYC. Of course, our new year came an hour before it did on tv but it was fun to watch images from NYC as we were there this past July.

Facebook has been full of people reflecting on 2013, mostly reflecting on all the bad and wishing for a better 2014…

I can’t do that!

I was a rather positive person before Emily. I always believed in removing negativity from my life and embracing happiness. Since Emily, I have learned to celebrate everything every success and look at challenges as what they are… A challenge. Can we overcome it? Yes or No. If we can than let’s do it. If we can’t than let’s look at alternatives.

Over the years I’ve been hurt but I’m looking at those as learning opportunities. Did I learn something from it? Yes. Than fine, that made me who I am and now I can move on.

When thinking about the past year, I see a new puppy, a trip to NYC, new friends, new milestones… Overall, a great year! I refuse to focus on challenges and negativity!

From my family to yours.

Happy new year!